The Lord Lieutenant

Lord Lieutenant

The title Lord Lieutenant is given to the British monarch's personal representatives in the United Kingdom, usually in a county or similar circumscription, with varying tasks throughout history. Usually a retired local notable, senior military officer, peer or business person is given the post...

 of Ross and Cromarty, is the British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 monarch

Monarch

A monarch is the person who heads a monarchy. This is a form of government in which a state or polity is ruled or controlled by an individual who typically inherits the throne by birth and occasionally rules for life or until abdication...

's personal representative in an area which has been defined since 1975 as consisting of the local government districts of Ross and Cromarty and Skye and Lochalsh in Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

, and this definition was renewed by the Lord-Lieutenants (Scotland) Order 1996. Previously, the area of the lieutanancy was the county of Ross and Cromarty, which was abolished as a local government area by the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973

Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973

The Local Government Act 1973 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, that reformed local government in Scotland, on May 16, 1975....

. The districts were created, under the 1973 act as districts of the two-tier Highland region

Regions and districts of Scotland

The local government areas of Scotland were redefined by the Local Government Act 1973 and redefined again by the Local Government etc Act 1994....

 and abolished as local government areas under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1994, which turned the Highland region into a unitary council area.

Prior to 1891 there had been a separate Lord Lieutenant of Ross and a Lord Lieutenant of Cromarty

Lord Lieutenant of Cromarty

This is a list of Lord Lieutenants of Cromartyshire, Scotland.*Robert Bruce Aeneas Macleod 5 May 1794 – 1833*Roderick Macleod 6 May 1833 – 13 March 1853*George Granville William Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, 3rd Duke of Sutherland 2 April 1853 – 15 May 1891...

, but these were merged by the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1889

Local Government (Scotland) Act 1889

The Local Government Act 1889 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which was passed on 26 August 1889. The main effect of the Act was to establish elected county councils in Scotland...

.

List of Lord-Lieutenants of Ross and Cromarty

• Mackenzie had been Lord Lieutenant of Ross-shire
• Sir Kenneth Mackenzie, 6th Baronet 15 May 1891 – 1899
• Sir Hector Munro, 11th Baronet 7 July 1899 – 15 December 1935
• Sir Hector Mackenzie, 8th Baronet 24 April 1936 – 1955
• Sir Richard O'Connor
  Richard O'Connor
  General Sir Richard Nugent O'Connor KT, GCB, DSO & Bar, MC, ADC was a British Army general who commanded the Western Desert Force in the early years of World War II...
  
   3 November 1955 – 1964
• Sir John Stirling
  Sir John Stirling
  Sir John Stirling, KT, MBE, TD was a Scottish soldier and politician.The eldest son of William Stirling of Fairburn, he was educated at Harrow School and at Magdalen College, Oxford...
  
   29 August 1964 – 1968
• Alexander Francis Matheson 9 October 1968 – 20 August 1976
• Sir John Hayes
  John Osler Chattock Hayes
  Vice Admiral Sir John Osler Chattock Hayes KCB OBE was a Royal Navy officer who became Naval Secretary.-Naval career:...
  
   1 February 1977 – 1988
• Sir Roderick Stirling 29 June 1988 – 2007
• Janet Bowen 2 June 2007 – present